Two Menlo Park artists, Alice Weil and Krishna Mitra, are exhibiting new landscape and floral paintings in oil and acrylic as part of Silicon Valley Open Studio 2016 on May 14 and 15 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm at 856 Partridge Ave. in Menlo Park.

Born in San Francisco, Alice Weil moved with her family to the rural hills of Redwood City when she was two. She was exposed to art and inspired at a very early age by a close family artist friend and neighbor. “To this day the smell of turpentine, linseed oil and paint sweeps me back to that studio in the hills, filled with easels, paintings of the California landscape and a kind old painter,” she said.

Alice finds peace painting under the shade of mighty oaks as they grace the golden hills of the Stanford property and outlying areas. Her paintings reflect the power and strength of the Bay Area landscape, omitting the hand of man in most of her paintings. Inspired by the fog-laden hills and passionate about the feeling of the paint on canvas, she wants the viewer to be taken away to a quiet relaxed place in her paintings.

Alice enrolled in art classes throughout high school and college and continues her art education, studying with artists she admires. Her paintings can be viewed year-round at the Portola Art Gallery at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park

Art has been a lifelong fascination for Krishna Mitra who delights with playing around with compositions and color palettes. She is influenced by the Impressionists, Georgia O’Keefe, Wayne Thiebaud, Wolf Kahn, and Gerard Richter, to name a few.

“The process of creating a new painting is both terrifying and exhilarating, and when a finished work meets my expectations its immensely satisfying,” she said. “I am attracted to color and the play of light on shapes; these qualities affect what I paint.”

You can find a complete list of all local artists taking part in Open Studios online.